Rosie's Loss
by celrock
Summary: Rosie experiences a tragedy in her family, right at the holidays, and tells Tommy of the story. Rosie is owned by Nairobi-harper, and this story, is also dedicated to Nairobi-harper and her family. My condolences, go out to her family during this difficult time.


Author's Note: I know I said I'd be releasing the next and final chapter of Zack and Kimi's Christmas Collage shortly, but after receiving some tragic news as of late, this new story that popped into my head just now took presidence. I apologize for having to release such a tragic story on short notice, but it was either that, or continue to sit here and cry my eyes out, possibly crying through my Christmas holiday, as I feel just awful for one of my good friends at this moment, and felt a dedication had to be done.

Rosie's Loss

Summary: Rosie experiences a tragedy in her family, right at the holidays, and tells Tommy of the story. Rosie is owned by Nairobi-harper, and this story, is also dedicated to Nairobi-harper and her family. My condolences, go out to her family during this difficult time.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. Peter is owned by TCKing12, while Rosie and her family are owned by Nairobi-harper. And as usual, I own any OC's you don't recognize.

It was Christmas time, and everybody was having a jolly old time, well, everyone except for poor three-year-old Tommy, who had come down with a cold that Christmas. But on top of it, he hadn't heard from his good pink haired friend Rosie, and was worried if she was ok. All of this combined, didn't exactly put Tommy in a very good mood, as he sat there on Christmas day, keeping to himself in the corner of the living room, uninterested in playing with any of his new toys that Santa Clause had brought him.

"Something wrong T?" Dil asked, noticing his brother alone in the corner.

Tommy just looked up from the floor and stared at his two-year-old brother.

"I'm fine Dil, well, as fine as anybody with a cold can be. I don't feel good, and just wanna be left alone." Tommy snapped, as he looked away and crossed his arms.

Disappointed, Dil went back to the TV, to watch another episode of Word World on DVD, while Tommy continued to sit in the corner, thinking, sneezing and coughing.

" _I wonder if Rosie's having a good Christmas? It's been a while since we've talked._ " Tommy thought to himself, just as the doorbell rang.

His mother answered the door to find that Peter was standing there, looking very sad. He was holding his iPhone in his hand, revealing the face of Rosie, looking very sad, with streaks of tears down her cheeks.

"What's wrong Peter?" Didi asked.

"It's about Rosie. Her family just recently experienced a loss. Is Tommy available?" Peter asked.

"He's right in here." Said Didi, as she pointed to the living room, before closing the door behind Peter and heading back into the kitchen to finish getting Christmas dinner ready.

Just then, Tommy heard footsteps, and looked up to see that Peter was coming towards him. He knew that Tommy wasn't well, as he had gotten sick a few days ago, and was still sick with a cold the previous day at his annual Christmas party.

"Hey Tommy, Merry Christmas. How are you feeling?" Peter asked.

"Crummy. My nose is all stuffy, I've gots a headache, and I don't feel much like playing." Tommy replied, as he blew his nose on the sleeve of his pajama shirt.

"Well Tommy, you're not alone. I have somebody on Facetime, who really needs a friend right now." Said Peter, as he handed the phone to Tommy.

He lit up when he saw it was Rosie, but his expression quickly went to a worried look, when he saw the shape she was in. She looked very sad, like she had been crying.

"Hey Rosie what's wrong?" Tommy asked.

Rosie sniffled back some tears before responding.

"Oh Tommy, it's awful. Member me telling you my aunt Sally and uncle Hank were going to have a baby, and mommy kept telling me she might arrive at Christmas?" Rosie asked.

Tommy nodded.

"Well, sometime in the middle of the night, mommy gotted a phone call from my aunt Sally. My new baby cousin, well, she was a still born." Rosie continued.

"No worries Rosie, my brother Dilly didn't move around very much when he was a baby baby neither. I'm sure your new baby cousin will move around more as she gets older." Said Tommy.

"No Tommy, you don't understand. My baby cousin was born, dead." Rosie replied, as she started to cry again.

Tommy knew what death was all about, as he had witnessed it a while back when his best friend's pet bug Melville died.

"Well, what happened?" Tommy asked.

"My mommy tells me that when babies are in their mommy's tummies, there's this special cord, I think it's called a utility cord or something. Well it got wrapped around my cousin's neck, and caused her to choke. So little baby Clara, that's what my aunt Sally was going to name her, came out dead, never to grow up and do anything." Explained Rosie.

At that moment, Tommy, not wishing to cry in front of his girlfriend, bit his lip, as he too grew very sad. At least Melville had lived a nice life, but to never get to live at all was pretty sad. The more he thought about it, the sadder he grew, until he couldn't take it anymore, and broke down crying right along with Rosie, who had broken down again into uncontrollable sobs, after explaining what happened to Tommy over the Facetime call.

Tommy held the phone close to his chest, as his only way of giving Rosie a hug, as the two three-year-olds continued to cry for a few more minutes, before Tommy got an idea that would hopefully, cheer his friend up.

"I'm sorry your aunty losted her baby, but here's an idea, maybe you could get her a new one." Tommy suggested.

"Oh Tommy, that's a great idea, but it's not that simple." Rosie replied.

"Why not? There's all sorts of babies at the baby store. Me and my friends saw bunches of them at the hopcickle before I metted Dilly." Said Tommy.

"But Tommy, I'm not at the hopcickle." Said Rosie.

Just then, Tommy glanced out the window, to see a bird flying out of a tree. He then recalled that time when he tried to get a baby brother from the stork before his brother was born.

"Here's an idea, why don't you see if the stork lefted any eggs in your backyard." Suggested Tommy.

"What's the stork again?" Rosie asked, as it had been a while since her older sister had told her of that story.

"It's a big ugly bird that lays eggs. You could get an egg and bring it to your aunt and uncle, who could hatch it and have a baby. Though I'd be careful. I did try that once, and we gotted a baby stork and not a baby person." Said Tommy.

"Well, anything's worth a try. Come on, let's go out to my backyard and see if there's any eggs in a bird's nest up in the tree." Said Rosie, as she took her sister's iPad outside, and looked around.

Unfortunately, with it being the cold, winter month of December in Boston, all of the birds had flown south for the winter, making this task impossible. Disappointed, when she looked up into the tree, to see its branches bare of leaves, and no bird's nest in sight, she went back inside with the iPad, and gave the bad news to her friend.

"Sorry Tommy, but there's no stork eggs anywhere. There's not even a nest in the tree. Where I live, all of the birds fly away for the winter." Said Rosie.

"Hmmm." Tommy thought, as he tried to think of something else.

He then thought further back in his memory, to way back even before the stork incident. His mommy had told him a new baby was coming in the mail, and he hitched a ride with the mailman to the post office, where he found the new baby in a box, and returned home with it, when his daddy came there to pick it up.

"Hey! One time, I gotted a new baby in the mail. Maybe you could go to the post office and bring a new baby back to your aunty that way." Suggested Tommy.

"Really?" Rosie asked.

"Sure! I did that once, only I haven't seen that baby in a while, so don't know what happened to it, but just wait for the mailman to come, and climb into his mail bag. He'll take you to the post office, and you can get a baby there." Suggested Tommy.

"I don't know Tommy, it is Christmas day, and I don't think the mail comes on Christmas." Said Rosie with a shrug.

"Well, that baby I gotted at the post office was a doll. Maybe that's why I haven't seen it in a while. It's probably down in my daddy's workshop somewhere." Tommy said to himself.

"What was that? Did you say something about a doll?" Rosie asked.

"Rosie, I'm gonna get you a baby cousin if it's the last thing I do." Said Tommy, as he stood up, determined to fix this situation.

Soon, they had to end their Facetime call, as it was time for Rosie's family to head to her aunt Sally and uncle Hank's for a Christmas dinner, though with what happened, it wasn't going to be that much of a joyous situation, and Peter had to head home, to attend a Christmas dinner being put on by Lilo and Stitch in the world of Disney. So they said their goodbyes, and both, Rosie and Tommy, saw to trying to rectify this situation.

When nobody was looking, Tommy headed off to his father's workshop down in the basement, to see if he could find that doll anywhere. He got the door open and headed downstairs, looking around the basement. He nearly gave up hope, when he spotted the Tina Trousers doll that he had found that one time at the post office on a high shelf. Unable to reach it from the floor, he started climbing the shelves, one by one, until he got up to the doll. He grabbed it by one of its hands, which he squeezed in the process.

"Mama." Said the doll in that all too familiar voice he recalled hearing a while back, as he squeezed its hand.

Realizing he found the right one, he grabbed it and hopped down to the floor, where he left the basement, and tried to put the doll through the mail slot in the front door to send to Rosie. Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit, though he then remembered, when he found it at the post office, it was in a box. But while he searched the entire house, the box was nowhere to be found. Perplexed, he slumped down on the floor by the front door, disappointed at not being able to help Rosie out.

Meanwhile, Rosie ran up to her room, where she grabbed her favorite doll as of late. It was given to her as a Christmas present from her aunt Sally and uncle Hank. Like Rosie, it had pink hair, and it wore a blue shirt and a yellow jumper. Rosie had originally named the doll Rachel, because she always found the name pretty, and loved that she had her own baby to play with, while she waited for her baby cousin to be born, which was the idea her aunt had when getting her the doll for Christmas. It was also what her aunt told her upon Rosie receiving the gift.

Flashback to two days before Christmas

"Here's a present from me Rosie." Said aunt Sally, as she handed Rosie a shiny package wrapped in silver paper, tied together with red and green ribbons.

Rosie tore the wrapping paper off, to reveal a doll inside.

"Oh wow, a doll!" Rosie exclaimed excitedly.

"I thought you'd like your own baby doll to play with, while you wait for the arrival of your new baby cousin." Said Sally, as she kissed the top of Rosie's forehead.

"Thank you aunt Sally." Said Rosie, as she leaned in to give her aunt a hug.

As she rubbed up against her aunt, she noticed a funny feeling.

"What's that thing, hitting me? It felt like it came from your tummy?" Rosie asked.

"That's your new baby cousin Clara in there. She's kicking. Wanna feel?" Aunt Sally asked.

Rosie nodded with a smile, as Sally placed Rosie's hands on her lower abdomen, and let her feel the baby kick. As she felt the baby kick, her eyes widened with fascination.

End of Flashback

Thinking back to this, Rosie started to grow sad again, but then, she got a brilliant idea.

"Rosie sweetie, it's time to go." Said her mother Shannon, as she came into the room, and scooped up Rosie, who was still clutching on to her new doll Rachel.

Little did anybody know, what Rosie had up her sleeve. An hour later, they arrived at her aunt Sally's for Christmas dinner, where her aunt was sitting in her favorite rocking chair, a box of tissues in her lap. Nobody could blame her for being so sad. This was indeed, a tragic loss, to lose her first child at the end of the term, and on Christmas day of all things. Everybody huddled around Sally and gave her huge hugs, trying to comfort her. Soon, it was Rosie's turn, where she climbed into her aunt's lap, and handed her the doll.

"Here you go. Here's Rachel, I mean, Clara." Said Rosie.

Her aunt giggled and handed the doll back to Rosie.

"Now now my sweet child, this is your doll I gave to you. You keep it." Said Sally, as she handed the doll back to Rosie.

But Rosie wasn't giving up. She handed the doll back to her aunt.

"Aunt Sally, you need the dolly more than I do. You keep it. Go ahead, snuggle with it. Hold it as if she were the new baby that didn't live. It will make you feel better." Said Rosie, as she handed the doll back to her aunt.

Of course, her aunt knew her niece was only three-years-old, and so she couldn't fully comprehend the emotional component of what she was going through. All this little girl could understand was that she was sad, and she was only trying, to cheer her aunt up. Not wanting to make her niece cry, she gently held the doll in her arms, just like she were a newborn baby, and gently rocked it back and force.

As Sally rocked the doll, she started to sing a lullaby to her and smiled as she continued to sing. Rosie, who had moved to the floor at this point, looked up at her aunt, and smiled, as tears of joy came to her eyes.

"I know it's not a real baby, but you can pretend, until another new one can grow and kick in your tummy." Said Rosie with a smile.

Of course, Sally knew this doll would never replace the child she lost, but not wishing to upset her three-year-old niece, she just reached down and patted Rosie on the head.

"Thank you Rosie. You not only found a way to brighten my day, but you showed some true Christmas spirit." Said Sally.

"I did?" Rosie asked.

"You sure did. You gave up something you loved more than ever, to make me happy. And for that, I thank you." Said Sally.

"You're welcome aunt Sally. Merry Christmas." Said Rosie.

"And a Merry Christmas, to you too." Said aunt Sally, as she cried tears of joy, and gave her niece a hug.

Three days later, Rosie and Tommy had another Facetime call. By this time, Tommy was starting to get over his cold, though he did suffer from a soar throat for a couple of days, and was still very tired. Peter was babysitting, and decided to give the Halls a call before Tommy went down for his nap, to see how they were doing with the loss. He was surprised to see how happy Rosie was.

"Uh, Rosie, I've gots some bad news. I founded the baby we gotted in the mail in my daddy's workshop, but I couldn't find the box she came in to send her to you. I'm sorry Rosie. I really tried to help." Said Tommy.

"It's ok Tommy, cuz telling me that story gave me an even betterer idea. I had gotten a doll from my aunt for an early Christmas present, and I decided to give it back to her." Said Rosie.

"But that was your Christmas present Rosie, why did you do that?" Tommy asked.

"Because my aunty needed the dolly more than I did. And no sooner did I gave it back to her, when she held it and smiled. I toldid her she could pretend it was her new baby, just until she could try to grow another new one in her tummy again. At first, she wasn't so sure about the idea, but soon, she started to like the idea, and thanked me for cheering her up." Said Rosie.

Tommy just nodded with a smile, as while his plan didn't completely work to cheer Rosie up, his idea did help her cheer her aunt up, and that, made his day.

"Glad I could help Rosie, after all, that's what friends are for." Said Tommy.

"Thanks Tommy, you're the bestest boyfriend a girl could ever have." Said Rosie with a smile.

"You're welcome." Said Tommy, as he let out a huge yawn.

"Growing sleepy?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah, I'm getting over a cold, and still kind of tired. I think it's time for my nappy, but I'll talk to you later." Said Tommy.

"Bye Tommy, have a nice nap with sweet dreams." Said Rosie, as they waved and ended the Facetime call.

Soon after, both toddlers in their respective homes, went and lay down to take a nap, as they drifted off to sleep, and for the first time in days, Rosie felt like her old self again, as did Tommy.

The End

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this little one-shot. I wrote that in dedication to the loss, of Nairobi-harper's baby cousin, who died from suffication earlier in the week. I don't know all of the details, but I'm assuming since it was after the baby was born, it was most likely probably from a rare disease called SIDS, also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Still though, I had to do something to cheer myself up, as when I received the news via PM's a couple of hours ago, I too, burst into tears. And since I also learned that Nairobi-harper would probably not be on here once again during another one of her holiday breaks, I had to do something, and I hope my story was able to cheer her up. To Nairobi-harper's cousin, may you rest, in peace. Also, time is starting to grow short, so if I can't get the final chapter of Christmas Collage up before I have to leave in roughly three hours, I'll get it up as soon as I return home on Saturday night.


End file.
